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Studies of the thermal and photodegradation of two commercial polymers, stabilized and unstabilized low‐density polyethylene, show the effects of weathering on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves. The shape and the size of the melting peak vary significantly in thermal aging and in accelerated photoirradiation, but no change was observed in natural weathering, implying that the crystallinity remains steady in outdoor exposures. The melting temperatures remain steady for all exposure tests. The fall of mechanical properties and the evolution of chemical structure, followed by IR spectroscopy results, especially near the carbonyl regions, were also observed. The resistance to UV light irradiation as probed by deformation at break was superior in stabilized LDPE compared to unstabilized LDPE. Simple correlations observed between the fall of mechanical properties, the rate of oxidation, and morphology. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The effect of crystallinity differences induced by mold wall temperature and annealing on mechanical behavior is evaluated for poly(etheretherketone) (PEEK) resin and its composites. The systems investigated were neat PEEK, glass fiber (GF) reinforced PEEK, and carbon fiber (CF) reinforced PEEK. Both composite systems were reinforced with 10, 20, and 30 wt% fiber. The degree of crystallinity (Xc) of PEEK was found to increase by processing at higher mold temperatures, by annealing, and by fiber length reductions, which appears to indicate the ability of short fibers to nucleate the crystallization of PEEK under favorable thermal conditions. Improvements in Young's modulus and strength together with ductility reductions are generally obtained as crystallinity increases in both neat PEEK and its composites. The contribution of crystallinity to mechanical behavior is significant only for neat PEEK and PEEK reinforced by 10% fiber. SEM micrographs reveal that this is due to a change in failure mode. When PEEK is reinforced by carbon fibers or by 20–30% glass fibers, a macroscopic brittle mode of failure is observed irrespective of matrix crystallinity, and mechanical behavior is principally determined by the nature and content of the reinforcing fibers.